System and method for using data points collected from a customer to provide customer specific offerings

ABSTRACT

A retailer computer system receives from a first computing device a shopping recap having data indicative of one or more products that were shown to a customer by the sales associate while the customer was within a retail establishment. The received shopping recap is stored within a data repository where it is linked to a customer identifier that is associated with the customer and an associate identifier that is associated with the sale associate. If the customer later purchases a product, data indicative of the product being purchased is compared against data within any shopping recap that is linked to that customer to determine if a sales associate that is also linked to any shopping recap linked to that customer is to be awarded a commission for the product being purchased. The purchase of the product by the customer may further generate a digital receipt where the digital receipt includes a notice that the customer is being awarded an incentive, such as a coupon. The incentive may be automatically linked to a rewards account of the customer whereupon, if the customer purchases a product that is associated with the incentive, the incentive will be automatically redeemed for the customer.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS/INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

The present application is a CONTINUATION of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/191,918, filed Jul. 27, 2011, now issued U.S. Pat. No.8,566,167. The above-identified application is hereby incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

The subject invention generally relates to retail systems and, moreparticularly, relates to a system and method for collecting data pointsfrom a customer and for using the collected data points to provide acustomer with customer specific product and/or service offerings,customer relevant information, and the like.

Various systems and methods for collecting data points from a customerand/or for providing customer specific incentives are generally known inthe art.

By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,917,386 describes a system and methodfor distributing, generating, and redeeming incentives, e.g., coupons,rebates, gift certificates or the like, which may be used in conjunctionwith a rewards card, e.g., a frequent shopper card. The incentives aredistributed electronically, for example, in the form of a diskette orCD-ROM software. Once the software is validated, a consumer may printout a list of selected incentives displayed on a Graphical UserInterface (GUI). When a product is purchased, the UPC code of theproduct may be compared electronically with a list of incentivesauthorized for a particular consumer. An appropriate coupon discount maythen be applied and the incentive may be considered “redeemed.” Onceredeemed, consumer ID information and incentive information may beretrieved electronically and used to update a central database. Accuratedata may then be produced illustrating which consumers or groups ofconsumers are redeeming which incentives.

U.S. Published Application No. 2011/0029368 describes a system forhandling electronic coupons which accesses information indicatingassociation of an electronic coupon with an account of a user thatidentifies multiple retail entities associated with the user.Information indicating association of electronic coupons with the user'saccount may be transmitted to respective computer systems associatedwith the multiple retail entities. The computer systems may associateelectronic coupons with the user such that the user may redeem theelectronic coupons at a retail store upon presentation of a useridentifier. When the user redeems an electronic coupon, cancellationinformation for the electronic coupon may be transmitted to the computersystems of other retail entities associated with the user. Receipt ofthe cancellation information may cause the respective computer systemsto cancel the redeemability of the electronic coupon such that the useris prevented from redeeming the electronic coupon at a retail storeassociated with the corresponding retail entity.

U.S. Published Application No. 2005/0222906 describes a method forproviding at least one targeted local marketing program and formeasuring the effectiveness of the at least one targeted local marketingprogram. The method includes generating at least one targeted message inaccordance with instructions of at least one retailer, forwarding the atleast one targeted message to a plurality of select customers, andmonitoring responses from the plurality of select customers via anidentification methodology. The monitoring allows for a determination ofthe effectiveness of the at least one marketing program, where thetargeted messages attract customers to retailers by targeting theplurality of select customers with incentives.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,912,505 describes methods for monitoring user browsingactivities that indicate user interests in particular products or otheritems, and for using such information to identify items that are relatedto one another. Relationships between products within an online catalogare determined by identifying products that are frequently viewed byusers within the same browsing session (e.g., products A and B arerelated because a significant portion of those who viewed A also viewedB). The resulting item relatedness data is preferably stored in a tablethat maps items to sets of related items. The table may be used toprovide personalized product recommendations to users, and/or tosupplement product detail pages with lists of related products. Thetable is used to provide session-specific product recommendations tousers that are based on the products viewed by the user during thecurrent browsing session.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,174,312 describes a user-personalized product sampling,recommendation and purchasing system that uses customer identificationnumbers and associated customer profile data to tailor specific productrecommendations to a customer at a content sampling station of a retaillocation. The customer also can use her customer profile to receive thesame information from an Internet website of the merchant. In-storesampling stations also may have the capability of checking storeinventory and central warehouse inventory and providing recommendationsto the customer in accordance with product availability, and optionallymay provide the customer with the ability to place product ordersdirectly through the sampling station. The recommendation system alsocan be used to tailor product recommendations in accordance with arule-based model and real-time inventory data from a point-of-sale (POS)database.

U.S. Published Application No. 2004/0177003 describes a system fordistributing adaptive electronic coupons to a user. Electronic couponmetadata automatically changes redemption characteristics of a couponbased upon predetermined conditions relating to personal data of theuser and a redemption environment. A redemption system honors theadaptive electronic coupon at a time and place of redemption based onthe predetermined conditions relating to the personal data of the userand the redemption environment.

U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,484,146, 7,024,374, and 7,398,348 describe systems forpresenting customized special offers to customers, the special offersincluding targeted offers to a customer selected from a plurality ofcustomers, and for collecting purchasing behavior information concerningthe customers which utilize customer cards having machine readable cardinformation indicating at least identification of the card with aparticular customer account.

While the systems and method described in these references (whichreferences are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety)generally work for their intended purpose, the invention describedhereinafter provides much needed improvements thereto.

SUMMARY

Described hereinafter is a system and method for collecting data pointsfrom a customer and for using the collected data points to provide acustomer with customer specific product and/or service offerings,customer relevant information, and the like. By way of example, thecollected data points may include products viewed by a customer while ina retail establishment, reasons for viewing the products (which aretypically indicative of a life event for the customer), etc. Thecustomer specific offerings may include incentives (e.g., discounts,coupons, sweepstake entries, etc.), product recommendations, and thelike selected for the customer. The customer relevant information mayinclude information relating to a product purchased by the customer(e.g., product warranties, instruction manuals, etc.) and/or to a lifeevent of the customer (e.g., information relevant to a customer that ismoving, doing home improvements, getting married, etc.).

In described embodiments, the subject system resides on a retailercomputer system that receives from a first computing device, such as atablet computing device operated by a sales associate, a shopping recaphaving data indicative of one or more products that were shown to acustomer by the sales associate while the customer was within a retailestablishment. The shopping recap may also capture from the customeranswers to posed questions relating to life events of the customer,e.g., is the customer moving, replacing a broken product, gettingmarried, etc. The received shopping recap is then stored within a datarepository with the shopping recap being linked to a customer identifierthat is associated with the customer and an associate identifier that isassociated with the sale associate. The shopping recap can also beshared with the customer, for example by email, to entice the customerto purchase the one or more products that were shown to the customerand/or to collect further data points from the customer. If the customerlater purchases a product, either on-line or in a store, data indicativeof the product being purchased is compared against data within anyshopping recap that is linked to that customer to determine if a salesassociate that is also linked to any shopping recap of the customer isto be awarded a commission for the product being purchased, e.g., it isdetermined whether or not the product being purchased is one that wasshown to the customer by a sales associate while the customer was withinthe store or otherwise related to a product that was shown to thecustomer by a sale associate while the customer was within the store.

The purchase of the product by the customer may further generate adigital receipt where the digital receipt includes a notice that thecustomer is being awarded an incentive, such as a coupon, entry into asweepstake, etc. The provided incentives may be in the form of digitalincentives where the digital incentives may be linked to a customerloyalty account and, thereby, be automatically redeemable. Meanwhile,the captured life event data may be used to cause the transmission oftargeted communications to the customer where the targetedcommunications are provided to the customer to assist the customer inaddressing various issues/mind sets that typically arise during thecourse of the life event. As will be appreciated, by use of theincentives and life event communications, still further data points maybe collected from the customer. These additionally collected data pointscan then be used to maintain an ongoing dialog with the customer and,thereby, provide the customer with still further relevant productofferings and/or information.

While the forgoing provides a general overview of some of the variousfeatures and functionalities of the subject invention, a betterunderstanding of the objects, advantages, features, properties, andrelationships of the subject invention will be obtained from thefollowing detailed description and accompanying drawings which set forthillustrative embodiments and which are indicative of the various ways inwhich the principles of the subject invention may be employed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the subject invention, reference may behad to preferred embodiments shown in the attached drawings to which:

FIG. 1 illustrates in block diagram form components of an exemplarysystem for collecting data points from a customer and for using thesame;

FIG. 2 illustrates a flow chart diagram of exemplary steps used tocollect data points from a customer and for using the collected datapoints to provide customer specific incentives, customer specificinformation, sales associate commissions, and/or the like;

FIGS. 3-14 illustrate exemplary screen shots of a “shopping recap”application running on a tablet computing device as used to collect datapoints from a customer; and

FIGS. 15 and 16 illustrate a decision matrix for sending targetedcommunications to a customer considering an exemplary life event ofmoving.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

With reference to the figures, the following describes a system andmethod for collecting data points from a customer, for using thecollected data points to provide customer specific offerings,incentives, information, and the like, and for rewarding salesassociates based upon their involvement in the process.

Turning to FIG. 1, illustrated is an exemplary system for collectingdata points from a customer and for using the collected data points toprovide enhanced retail services in a manner that is described ingreater detail hereinafter. As illustrated, the exemplary systemincludes a processing device 20 whereby a customer may register withand/or otherwise access an online retail channel hosted by a retailersystem 68 associated with one or more retail establishments to, amongother things, view and purchase product being offered for sale by theretail establishment(s). As will be appreciated, during the registrationprocess the customer may establish a log-in name/password combinationfor providing secure and recognized access to the retailer system 68(which information and/or cookies provided to the processing device 20will additionally allow the retailer system 68 to track data pointsassociated with the online usage of the retailer system 68 by thecustomer—such a pages viewed, products purchased, etc.), provide acontact email address, phone number, or other unique identifier, providedemographic information such as age, gender, preferences, interests,etc. As a result of the registration process (which may also be done bythe customer while within the retail establishment), the customer willautomatically be associated with a unique ID, which customer ID may, butneed not, be reflected on a physical and/or digital rewards card thatwill be provided to the customer. For example, the customer ID may bereflected in a device having a machine readable code, such as a barcodeimprinted on a physical rewards card or be otherwisedisplayable/transmittable via use of a device such as a smart phone.Using the same or another processing device, the customer mayadditionally receive from the retailer system 68 digital incentives orother communications that will be associated with their customer ID.While illustrated in the exemplary form of a personal computer, it is tobe understood that the processing device 20 may be embodied in any typeof device having the ability to execute instructions such as, by way ofexample only, a personal-digital assistant (“PDA”), a smart phone, atablet computing device, or the like. Furthermore, while described andillustrated in the context of a single processing device 20, thoseskilled in the art will also appreciate that the various tasks describedherein may be practiced in a distributed environment having multipleprocessing devices linked via a local or wide-area network, such as theInternet, whereby the executable instructions may be associated withand/or executed by one or more of the multiple processing devices.

More particularly, to provide a means for a purchaser to access theonline channel of the retailer(s) (and to perform various tasks asnecessary) the processing device 20 preferably includes a processingunit 22 and a system memory 24 which may be linked via a bus 26. Withoutlimitation, the bus 26 may be a memory bus, a peripheral bus, and/or alocal bus using any of a variety of known bus architectures. As neededfor any particular purpose, the system memory 24 may include read onlymemory (ROM) 28 and/or random access memory (RAM) 30. Additional memorydevices may also be made accessible to the processing device 20 by meansof, for example, a hard disk drive interface 32, a magnetic disk driveinterface 34, and/or an optical disk drive interface 36. As will beunderstood, these devices, which would be linked to the system bus 26,respectively allow for reading from and writing to a hard disk 38,reading from or writing to a removable magnetic disk 40, and for readingfrom or writing to a removable optical disk 42, such as a CD/DVD ROM orother optical media. The drive interfaces and their associatedphysically embodied, i.e., non-transitory, computer-readable media allowfor the storage of instructions, data structures, program modules, andthe like for execution by the processing unit 22 of the processingdevice 20. Those skilled in the art will further appreciate that othertypes of physically embodied computer-readable media that can store dataand/or executable instructions may be used for this same purpose.Examples of such media devices include, but are not limited to, magneticcassettes, flash memory cards, digital videodisks, Bernoulli cartridges,random access memories, nano-drives, memory sticks, and other read/writeand/or read-only memories. Meanwhile, the program modules that may bestored in one or more of the memory/media devices may include a basicinput/output system (BIOS) 44 which contains the basic routines thathelp to transfer information between elements within the processingdevice 20, such as during start-up, an operating system 46, one or moreapplications programs 48 (such as a Web browser), other program modules50, and/or program data 52.

To allow a customer to enter commands and information into theprocessing device 20, e.g., to create or upload task relatedinstructions, to search for and purchase product, indicate how an orderfor product is to be fulfilled, etc., input devices such as a touch pador keyboard 54 and/or a pointing device 56 are provided. While notillustrated, other input devices may include a microphone, a joystick, agame pad, a scanner, a camera, etc. These and other input devices wouldtypically be connected to the processing unit 22 by means of aninterface 58 which, in turn, would be coupled to the bus 26. Inputdevices may be connected to the processor 22 using interfaces such as,for example, a parallel port, game port, firewire, or a universal serialbus (USB). To view information from the processing device 20, a monitor60 or other type of display device may also be connected to the bus 26via an interface, such as a video adapter 62. In addition to the monitor60, the processing device 20 may also include other peripheral outputdevices, not shown, such as speakers and printers.

As noted above, the processing device 20 may also utilize logicalconnections to one or more remote processing devices, such as a retailersystem 68 having associated data repository 68A. As will be understood,the data repository 68A may maintain a database of product that is beingsold by the retailer(s), customer related information (includinginformation concerning past purchasing histories of particularcustomers, product viewing histories of particular customers,demographic information for particular customers, incentives availablefor and/or being offered to particular customers, etc.), financialinformation, and the like type of data used in commerce. While theretailer system 68 has been illustrated in the exemplary form of aserver computer, it will be appreciated that the retailer system 68 may,like processing device 20, be any type of device having processingcapabilities. Similarly, it will be appreciated that the retailer system68 need not be implemented as a single device but may be implemented ina manner such that the tasks performed by the retailer system 68 aredistributed amongst a plurality of processing devices/databases locatedat the same or different geographical locations and linked through acommunication network. Additionally, the retailer system 68 may havelogical connections to other third party systems 80 via the network 12and, via such connections, will be associated with functions that aresupported by and data repositories that are linked to such other thirdparty systems. Such third party systems may include, withoutlimitations, systems of banking, credit, or other financialinstitutions, systems of third party providers of product, systems ofshipping/delivery companies, systems that support social networking,etc.

For performing tasks as needed, the retailer system 68 may include manyor all of the elements described above relative to the processing device20. In addition, the retailer system 68 would generally includeexecutable instructions that are likewise stored on physically embodiedmemory devices for, among other things, supporting online retail channelservices, supporting physical retail channel services, i.e., in store,maintaining records, etc. The retailer system 68 may thus include linksto point-of-sale (POS) devices, e.g., cash registers, that are locatedwithin one or more retail stores without limitation. As will also bedescribed in greater detail hereinafter, the retail system 68 furtherhas instructions for storing and using captured information related toproducts that a customer is viewing while in a retail establishment(e.g., as captured by a sales associate using a processing device 20′)to, among other things, provide customer specific incentives. To thisend, the system may incorporate a recommendation or selection enginewhich utilizes techniques to discern relationships in a manner similarto the engines described in the references listed in the backgroundsection of this document.

Communications between the processing device 20/20′ and the retailersystem 68 may be exchanged via a further processing device, such as anetwork router, that is responsible for network routing. Communicationswith the network router may be performed via a network interfacecomponent 73. Thus, within such a networked environment, e.g., theInternet, World Wide Web, LAN, or other like type of wired or wirelessnetwork, it will be appreciated that program modules depicted relativeto the processing devices 20/20′, or portions thereof, may be stored inthe memory storage device(s) associated with the retailer system 68.

As noted above, the retailer system 68 includes instructions for storingand using data points collected from a customer to, among other things,provide customer specific offerings and/or informational services. Thecollected data points may be reflective of a specific customer's onlineexperiences with the retailer system 68 as well as the specificcustomer's in-store experiences with one or more retailestablishment(s), i.e., the captured data points are preferablyreflective of the multi-channel experiences for a specific customer. Thedata points reflective of the customer's online experiences may includeproducts viewed while online, products purchased while online, productsplaced into one or more lists (e.g., a wish list, shopping cart list,etc.), product information captured by the customer (e.g., via use of amobile barcode scanning application), expressed or inferred interests ofthe customer, expressed or inferred communities for that customer (e.g.,as indicated by online social network links), etc. Demographic datapoints for the customer (e.g., residence address, gender, age, maritalstatus, etc.) may also be captured via the online channel or may beprovided by the customer while within a retail establishment. Datapoints captured via the in-store retail channel may similarly includedata points reflective of products viewed while the customer is within astore, products purchased within a store, etc. The data points collectedonline or in-store, e.g., via an ongoing dialog with the customer, mayalso be indicative of one or more life events of the customer, e.g., thecustomer is moving, replacing product getting married, etc. As discussedabove, such data points captured for a specific customer would beassociated with a customer ID, e.g., phone number, email address, aphysical or digital rewards card having an associated machine readableindicia, or the like.

For collecting data points from a specific customer while that customeris within a retail establishment, it is contemplated that a “shoppingrecap” procedure may be utilized as generally illustrated in FIG. 2. Byway of non-limiting example, the “shopping recap” procedure may beinitiated by a customer meeting 202 with a sales associate in the retailestablishment whereupon the sales associate will show the customer oneor more products that may be of interest to the customer. While notrequired, the products to be shown to the customer by the salesassociate may be pre-designated by the customer before their arrival tothe retail establishment, for example by being specified in an onlinegenerated list 204. In connection with the generation of the onlinelist, an appointment may be made to meet the sales associate at a giventime at a given store location. As will be appreciated, any listgenerated in this manner is preferably routed to a sales associate, forexample to their processing device 20′, prior to the scheduledappointment to thereby allow the sales associate to gather or otherwiselocate within the retail establishment the product(s) of interest. Whena list is generated online in this manner, any data points capturedduring the online session that was used to generate the list, e.g.,products viewed, added to the list, etc., may also be associated withthat particular customer for later reference and use by the system. Datapoints regarding online activities may be captured and associated withthe customer via use of their log-in information, provided customer ID,a stored cookie, or the like. In the event that such data points are notcaptured during the online list generation process, e.g., the customerdid not register with the retailer system 68 when creating the list, thecustomer did not create a list prior to entering the store, etc., datapoints with respect to the products viewed by the customer maynevertheless by captured by the sales associate during the productreview with the customer, e.g., the sales associate may register thecustomer with the system as part of the product review process and outerdata points 206 indicative of products being shown to the customer,demographic information, etc. into their processing device 20′ as neededfor uploading 208 to the retailer system 68. Such in-store, captureddata points will be saved into a customer's profile that is linked tothe customer ID whereupon it will be available for use by the enginethat is provided to determine offers/coupons and the like for customers.In the event that a customer decided to purchase any of the items thatare shown to the customer during this meeting, the purchase of suchitems would also be captured by the system, e.g., at the POS, and thedata points related to such purchase(s) would be similarly saved intothe customer's profile. If the customer is not ready to make a purchaseand wants to think about it, the sales associate can then interact withthe system to cause a detailed “shopping recap” to be send to thecustomer. The “shopping recap” may be in the form of an email that listsall the items the sales associate showed to the customers as well asassociate's personal notes on each item. Alternatively or in addition tosending an email, the “shopping recap” may be made available to thecustomer via online access to the retailer system 68 or via an “app”provided to the customer for use on their smart phone.

Through use of the “shopping recap” provided to the customer 210, thecustomer can return to a store associated with the retailer to completetheir purchase 212 and/or the customer may interact with the “shoppingrecap” to go online and review all the items they were shown in thestore and also see the associate's notes on each item. The “shoppingrecap” may additionally provide links whereby the consumer can addproduct(s) to their shopping cart and complete their purchase online 214in an otherwise conventional manner. As will be appreciated, data pointsassociated with a purchase of a product, whether online or in-store,and/or data points associated with the customer viewing product onlineis again preferably captured and uploaded 216 to the system server 68for inclusion in the customer's profile.

By way of more specific example, reference is made to FIGS. 3-14 whichillustrate a method by which a sales associate captures data points fora customer via use of a table computing device. It will be appreciatedthat a smart phone or the like could also be used by a sales associatein the same or similar manner to achieve the same end. As such, theillustrated example is not intended to be limiting.

As shown in FIG. 3, when a customer meets with the sales associate, thesales associate opens up an “assisted selling tool” app on their device20′ and provides their log-in information 300. The log-in informationprovided will be used to link the sales associate with the to-be-createdshopping recap for the various reasons described hereinafter. At thistime, the “assisted selling tool” app may additionally present, forviewing by the customer and/or the sales associate, messaging in awindow 302. This messaging may display advertisements and/or videomessages for various business units and/or vendors within the retailernetwork to advertise key messages, offerings, and the like. For example,a slideshow of messages can be displayed and advertisements can beselected by clicking on presented links. It is contemplated that theadvertisements can be dynamic and updated in real-time as needed toconvey desired information. The advertisements can also be specific tokey shopping time frames (e.g., Christmas) or used to communicate newarrivals, special offers, weather related messages, or even pricechanges in response to competition at the local level. Still further, itis contemplated that various entities within the retailer network canbid to advertise in this space. Clicking on a presented advertisementmay further function to take the device to a specific page of productlistings, e.g., appliances, clothing, or the like.

After the sales associate has logged into the system, the salesassociate may then start collecting data points that are reflective ofthe interests of the customer. In this illustrated example, the salesassociate interacts with the device 20′ to indicate a category ofproduct (e.g., “lawn and garden” as shown in FIG. 4) and a specific typeof product within that category (e.g., “riding mowers and tractors” asshown FIG. 5) that the customer has expressed an interested in viewing.In addition, the sales associate will collect data points reflective ofthe needs of the customer as shown in FIG. 6. For example, the systemcan seek responses from the customer to various questions to obtaininformation indicative of intended uses and needs for the product ofinterest as well as information indicative of customer life events. Theinformation indicative of intended uses and needs for the product ofinterest will be used by the system to narrow down product choices forthe customer while the information indicative of life events (e.g., whyis the customer interested in purchasing the product) will be used bythe system to establish an on going dialog with the customer asdescribed in greater detail hereinafter. As will be appreciated, thequestions posed to the customer in this stage of the process may bevaried as needed depending upon, for example, the category of productthat is of interest to the customer. As answers to the posted questionsare provided, with the answers preferably being highlighted for ease ofconfirmation purposes (e.g., by a black boundary 602), the system maycontinually update, in real time, the number of products 604 that meetthe currently obtained selection criteria. Clicking on the “results”indicator may then take the sales associate to a listing of the productsas shown in FIG. 7. In addition, or alternatively, with the listing ofproducts, the system may ask that the sales associate obtain stillfurther information from the customer to assist in narrowing down thecustomer's choices as shown in FIG. 8. In any event, when the choiceshave been narrowed to the satisfaction of the customer, the salesassociate may then walk the customer around the store to show thecustomer product at which time the sales associate may add any of theproduct located via use of the computing device 20′ (as well as anynotations related thereto) to the “shopping recap” product listing asshown, for example, in FIG. 9. It will also be appreciated thatadditional product shown to the customer during this in-store showingmay also be added to the “shopping recap” product listing, for example,by simply scanning the barcode of such product using the computingdevice 20′.

When the sales associate and the customer have finished the in-storereview process, the sales associate may then bring up the listing ofproduct that was indicated by the customer to be of interest as shown inFIG. 10. From this page, detailed information 1002 related to any of theproduct can be viewed, product can be added to a shopping cartassociated with the customer (e.g., for immediate purchase or purchasevia the on-line channel) or removed from the listing 1004, anotification can be presented to the sales associate 1006 that a“shopping recap” alert is pending (which “shopping recap” can be sent tothe customer via activation of link 1008), and/or the sales associatemay interact with the device 20′ to proceed with the purchase of anyproduct 1010. In the event that a “shopping recap” is to be sent to thecustomer, the sales associate will proceed to initiate a customerlook-up (or otherwise register the customer with the system) as shown inFIG. 11 at which time the “shopping recap” will be linked to a customeridentifier, such as their frequent shopper account. Before sending the“shopping recap” to the customer, the sales associate may also provideany additional notes that might be appropriate for the customer and/orindicate any reminder “hollow-up” dates as further illustrated. In theevent that a customer indicates a desire to purchase any of the product,e.g., product added to the shopping cart, the system may determine ifthe product is available at the current retailer location and/or viaon-line purchase and, if so, the customer information is gathered(similar to the manner described above whereby the “shopping recap” andpurchasing data points are linked to the customer identifier) and anypayment, delivery, etc. information is capture either via use of thedevice 20′ or at a POS device as shown in FIGS. 12 and 13.

In connection with a purchase of a product, the customer may be issued aprint receipt and/or a digital receipt as further illustrated in FIG.13. Any product related references, such as user manuals, how to videos,or the like, can also be provided digitally to the customer with thepurchase of a product. More particularly, the digital receipt, anexample of which is illustrated in FIG. 14, may include a recap of thepurchase 1402, an ad circular 1404 with recommendations for (and linksto purchase) additional product related to the purchase, related tocalendar dates (e.g., Christmas, Valentine's Day, etc.), and/or relatedto a life event of the customer (e.g., moving boxes), a means 1406 for acustomer to provide feedback with respect to the process, information1408 for returning/exchanging the process, links 1410 to product detailinformation, user's manuals, how-to videos, warranty information,protections agreements, etc., and links 1412 to social networks (e.g.,to share the purchase with a friend).

When a customer ultimately purchases a product that was shown to thecustomer by a sales associate as described above, the purchase ispreferably tracked back to the “shopping recap” and the associate thatsent the “shopping recap” is provided with a paid commission. To thisend, the “shopping recap” is preferably also linked to a sales associateID whereby, when a given customer purchases an item, e.g., a product isscanned at the POS or purchased online by a known customer, the systemwill determine if the product is linked to particular “shopping recap”for that customer and, if so, will determine from the sales associate IDalso linked to that “shopping recap” which sales associate is to be paidthe commission.

In certain circumstances it is contemplated that a “shopping recap”might not lead to a purchase of a product that was actually shown to acustomer by a sales associate but might instead lead to a purchase of arelated product, e.g., a product that is displayed as a recommendationin the “shopping recap” email and/or on a webpage that displays aproduct shown to the customer during their visit to the retailestablishment, etc. In the event that a customer purchases such arelated product, a partial commission may be paid to the salesassociate. By way of non-limiting example, a sales associate may show acustomer lawn mowers 1, 2, and 3 during their visit but the customerultimately purchases lawn mower 4. If the customer was exposed to lawnmower 4 as a result of lawn mower 4 being related to any of lawn mowers1, 2, or 3, e.g., the customer saw lawn mower 4 as a recommendationpresented in a carousel displayed in the “shopping recap” email, in aproduct detail page for any of items 1, 2, or 3, etc., whichrecommendations may appear under the heading “people who viewed productX bought product Y,” the sales associate will be paid a partialcommission or spiff since the customer didn't buy the exact same productthe sale associate presented but did buy something in same “line” orsame “division” as the product(s) the customer was shown. Whiledescribed in the context of “people who viewed X, also purchased Y,” itwill be appreciated that related products may also be presented aslisting of known accessories for a product shown to a customer, e.g.,presented under a heading “attachments to go with this product,” or thelike. To provide sales commissions in this manner, it will beappreciated that the database will additionally maintain links betweenthe sales associate ID, the “shopping recap,” and products known to berelated to the products within the “shopping recap.”

Yet further, it is contemplated that a commission may be provided to thesales associate that performed the initial product review with thecustomer in the event that the customer returns to the store and adifferent sales associate finalizes the purchase of a product previouslyshown to the customer. For example, a circumstance may arise where salesassociate 1 sends the “shopping recap” email with the list of productsshown to the customer yet, when the customer returns to the store (orgoes to a different store within the retail network), sales associate 1is not working and sales associate 2 meets with the customer and askswho they worked with previously. Because sales associate 1 is not in thestore, sales associate 2 pulls up the “lead” or “shopping recap” andhelps the customer make a purchase. In such a case, a partial commissionor spiff may still be provided to sales associate 1 (since they enteredthe recap) while a full commission may be provided to sales associate 2(who made the sale).

As described previously, when the customer makes a purchase of aproduct, the customer will be provided 218 with a digital receipt of thepurchase, e.g., in an email, via the “shopping recap” app, or the like.The digital receipt will additionally include a described incentive,e.g., a coupon which is available for immediate use, that is selectedparticularly for that customer, i.e., a personalized incentive. Forexample, a message may be provided with the digital receipt whichstates: “Thank you for being a valued rewards member. To make sure youget the most out of your benefits, we have auto-loaded the followingcoupon(s) to your rewards account. All you have to do is go the storeand give your account number, email, or mobile number at the time ofcheckout—and see all the coupons applied to your purchase.” Because theincentive will be automatically linked to the customer, when a productor products associated with the provided incentive is purchased by thecustomer (whether online or at the POS), the SKU or UPC code of theproduct or products being purchased will be compared against a list ofincentives authorized for that particular consumer and an appropriatediscount or reward—if applicable—will then be automatically applied tothe purchase. At this time, the incentive may be considered “redeemed”and, once redeemed, the customer's information and incentive informationis used to update the database. In this manner, multiple redemptions ofan incentive is avoided while accurate data is produced for customersillustrating which customers or groups of customers are redeeming whichincentives.

To provide personalized incentives, the system utilizes an engine thatdetermines which offers/coupons should be provided to a given customergiven certain information about that customer as noted above. Moreparticularly, the information that is preferably provided to the engineincludes, but need not be limited to, one or more of: informationgathered for the customer during their “shopping recap” experience;profitability of the customer; demographics, preferences, and interestsfor the customer; past purchasing history for the customer;browsing/viewing behaviors of the customer; previous spending andshopping frequency history for the customer; life stages for thecustomer; items scanned by the customer via use of a mobile app;proximity of the customer to a store within the retail network; and pastincentive redemption history of the customer. The engine considers suchinformation 220 against a database of available coupons/offers 222,using appropriate business rules 224 (e.g., by providing weights to thevarious data points collected and weights to the variouscoupons/offers), to select which offers are most relevant to a givencustomer, i.e., to select which offers should be provided to a givencustomer. In addition, the business rules used to select which offers toprovide to a given customer may additionally consider data points suchas minimum purchasing thresholds applicable to a given incentive, thenumber of incentives that can be redeemed in a single purchase, whichincentives can be stacked, and/or whether loyalty rewards would be moreeffective for the customer than providing a discount coupon as anincentive. By way of example, a loyalty reward may be a reward wherein Xnumber of points are earned for every $1.00 spent (which points may bemultiplied for one or more tiers of bonus members) whereupon, whenshopping in a store or online, a customer need only scan their loyaltycard, provide a PIN, their phone number, email address, or the like asappropriate—all of which are “customer IDs”—to receive a discount worth$1.00 in value for every Y number of points the customer elects toredeem. Personalized incentives may further be provided to customersbased on additional triggers 226, such as calendar dates or the like.

It is further contemplated that the ability such personalized awards mayalso be limited to select customers, e.g., customers having a history ofhigh spending (e.g., have a previous purchasing history over a givendollar amount) and/or are high margin shoppers and/or are high frequencyshoppers and/or have a history of using coupons. Thus, members meetingany such criteria may be provided with an invite to join the subjectrewards program.

It is additionally contemplated that a customer that participates in the“shopping recap” experience may be provided with a follow-upcommunication, such as a sweepstakes entry or the like (which may besent with a “shopping recap,” a digital receipt, or otherwise), by whichthe system can obtain further data points with respect to a life eventof the customer. For example, if a customer has indicated (as describedpreviously) that they intend to move, the follow-up communication canseek to find where the customer is moving to, what type of home they arethey are moving from and into, when they are moving, etc. With theseadditional data points, the system can then send targeted messagesand/or offers to the customer as appropriate. Specifically, these datapoints can trigger the sending of targeted messages related to thelocale into which the user is moving (e.g., stores located nearby,information generally relating to the area such as school information,tasks to be performed to when leaving their current home and uponarriving at their new home, and the like), offers for products thecustomer might need to assist in the move, might need in establishing anew household, and/or might otherwise need at their new locale givenvarious conditions such as weather conditions at the new locale or thelike (which communications would be sent at the appropriate time giventheir indicated move date), etc. Thus, data points collected in thismanner can trigger the sending of relevant information/instructions,offers, incentives, and the like as shown in FIG. 16 based upon theperceived customer mindset/focus at various times during the course ofany indicated life event as shown by in FIG. 15. As discussedpreviously, data points collected via any such additional exchanges withthe customer will allow the system to maintain an ongoing dialog withthe customer whereby the system may continually adjust to the needs andrequirements of the customer.

From the foregoing it will be additionally appreciated that the“shopping recaps” and any purchases resulting therefrom may remainaccessible to customers (e.g., to allow a customer to review their“stuff,” access product warranties or user's manuals, etc.), may beintegrated into other functional components provided by the system(e.g., to provide a customer with reminders that parts for purchasedproduct need to be replaced or repaired), etc., and/or be viewed bysales associates (e.g., to review commissions earned, to sendfollow-ups, etc) as needed.

While various concepts have been described in detail, it will beappreciated by those skilled in the art that modifications andalternatives to those concepts could be developed in light of theoverall teachings of the disclosure. For example, those of skill in theart will appreciate that the ordering of the steps described herein andillustrated in the figures can be modified without departing from thescope of the invention claimed hereinafter. Similarly, those of skillthe art will appreciate that certain of the steps described herein maybe considered to be optional. Yet further, while various aspects of theinvention have been described in the context of functional modules andcomponents, it is to be understood that, unless otherwise stated to thecontrary, one or more of the described functions and/or features may beintegrated in a single physical device and/or a software module, or oneor more functions and/or features may be implemented in separatephysical devices or software modules. It will also be appreciated that adetailed discussion of the actual implementation of the modules used toperform the various described functions is not necessary for an enablingunderstanding of the invention. Rather, the actual implementation ofsuch modules would be well within the routine skill of an engineer,given the disclosure herein of the attributes, functionality, andinter-relationship of the various functional modules in the system.Therefore, a person knowledgeable in the art, applying ordinary skill,will be able to practice the invention set forth in the claims withoutundue experimentation. It will be additionally appreciated that theparticular concepts disclosed are meant to be illustrative only and notlimiting as to the scope of the invention which is to be given the fullbreadth of the appended claims and any equivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. A non-transitory, computer-readable media havingstored thereon instructions executable by a retailer computing system,the instructions causing the retailer computing system to perform steps,comprising: receiving, from a first computing device operated by aparticular sales person, a shopping recap having data indicative of oneor more products shown to a particular customer by the particular salesperson, wherein the shopping recap report lists the one or more productsthat were shown to the particular customer by the particular salesperson while the particular customer was within a retail establishment;storing the shopping recap within a data repository, wherein theshopping recap is linked to a first identifier that is associated withthe particular customer and a second identifier that is associated withthe particular sales person; providing a receipt to the particularcustomer for a purchased product, wherein the receipt is different fromthe shopping recap; causing a graphical representation of the shoppingrecap to present a graphical user interface that comprises one or moregraphical elements that are configured to obtain additional data pointsfrom the customer and to maintain online communications with thecustomer, the additional data points being usable to construct furthermessages to be sent to the customer to thereby maintain an on-goingdialog with the customer, wherein the graphical user interface, theshopping recap, the first computing device, and the data repository areconfigured to maintain the on-going dialog with the customer; andawarding a commission to the particular sales person if the particularcustomer purchases the product on the stored shopping recap that islinked to the first identifier and the second identifier, wherein thereceipt comprises a digital receipt, wherein the particular customer isprovided with one or both of redeemable award points for the purchasedproduct and an incentive with the digital receipt based on in-storeactivity and on-line activity of the particular customer, and whereinthe incentive is automatically linked to a rewards program accountassociated with the particular customer and is automatically redeemableupon the purchasing, by the particular customer, of a product associatedwith the incentive.
 2. The computer-readable media according to claim 1,comprising: receiving, from a retailer point-of-sale device, informationrelating to the product being purchased by the particular customer. 3.The computer-readable media according to claim 1, comprising: receiving,from a second computing device, information relating to the productbeing purchased by the particular customer, wherein the second computingdevice is configured to link to the retailer system via the Internet. 4.The computer-readable media according to claim 1, wherein the commissionis a full commission when the purchased product is determined to be aproduct that was shown to the particular customer by the particularsales person.
 5. The computer-readable media according to claim 1,comprising: awarding a partial commission to the particular sales personif the particular customer purchases a product related to a product onthe stored shopping recap that is linked to the first identifier and thesecond identifier.
 6. The computer-readable media according to claim 1,wherein the purchased product, which is related to the one or moreproducts shown to the particular customer by the particular sales personwhile the particular customer was within a retail establishment, isshown to the particular customer in a shopping recap report provided tothe particular customer.
 7. The computer-readable media according toclaim 6, wherein the purchased product, which is related to the one ormore products shown to the particular customer by the particular salesperson while the particular customer was within a retail establishment,is shown to the particular customer on a web page, which includes atleast one of the products shown to the particular customer by theparticular sales person while the particular customer was within theretail establishment.
 8. The computer-readable media according to claim7, wherein a shopping recap report is made available to the particularcustomer, wherein the shopping recap report lists the one or moreproducts that were shown to the particular customer by the particularsales person while the particular customer was within a retailestablishment.
 9. The computer-readable media according to claim 8,wherein the shopping recap report is emailed to the particular customer,or wherein the shopping recap report is accessible via a smart phoneapplication.
 10. The computer-readable media according to claim 8,wherein the graphical representation of the shopping cap comprises afirst graphical portion showing items purchased, a second graphicalportion showing receipt information for the purchased items, a thirdportion showing recommended items, and a fourth portion for sharing onsocial media.
 11. The computer-readable media according to claim 1,comprising: receiving, from a retailer point-of-sale device, informationrelating to the product being purchased by the particular customer; andreceiving, from a second computing device, information relating to theproduct being purchased by the particular customer, wherein the secondcomputing device is configured to link to the retailer system via theInternet, wherein the shopping recap report is accessible via a smartphone application, and wherein the digital receipt includes anindication of an incentive that is selected from a repository ofincentives for the particular customer.
 12. A non-transitory,computer-readable media having stored thereon instructions executable bya retailer computing system, the instructions causing the retailercomputing system to perform steps, comprising: receiving, from a firstcomputing device operated by a particular sales person, a shopping recaphaving data indicative of one or more products shown to a particularcustomer by the particular sales person, wherein the shopping recapreport lists the one or more products that were shown to the particularcustomer by the particular sales person while the particular customerwas within a retail establishment; storing the shopping recap within adata repository, wherein the shopping recap is linked to a firstidentifier that is associated with the particular customer and a secondidentifier that is associated with the particular sales person;providing a receipt to the particular customer for a purchased product,wherein the receipt is different from the shopping recap; causing agraphical representation of the shopping recap to present a graphicaluser interface on a second computing device that comprises one or moregraphical elements that are configured to obtain additional data pointsfrom the customer and to maintain online communications with thecustomer, the additional data points being usable to construct furthermessages to be sent to the customer to thereby maintain an on-goingdialog with the customer, wherein the graphical user interface, theshopping recap, the first computing device, and the data repository areconfigured to maintain the on-going dialog with the customer; andawarding a commission to the particular sales person if the particularcustomer purchases the product on the stored shopping recap that islinked to the first identifier and the second identifier, wherein thepurchased product, which is related to the one or more products shown tothe particular customer by the particular sales person while theparticular customer was within a retail establishment, is shown to theparticular customer in a shopping recap report provided to theparticular customer, wherein the purchased product, which is related tothe one or more products shown to the particular customer by theparticular sales person while the particular customer was within aretail establishment, is shown to the particular customer on a web page,which includes at least one of the products shown to the particularcustomer by the particular sales person while the particular customerwas within the retail establishment, wherein a shopping recap report ismade available to the particular customer, wherein the shopping recapreport lists the one or more products that were shown to the particularcustomer by the particular sales person while the particular customerwas within a retail establishment, and wherein the shopping recapincludes data indicative of one of more products that were shown to, butnot purchased by, the particular customer by the particular salesperson.
 13. The computer-readable media according to claim 12, whereinthe receipt includes a digital receipt that is provided to theparticular customer for the purchased product.
 14. The computer-readablemedia according to claim 13, wherein the digital receipt includes anindication of an incentive that is selected from a repository ofincentives for the particular customer.
 15. The computer-readable mediaaccording to claim 14, wherein the incentive includes a coupon.
 16. Thecomputer-readable media according to claim 14, wherein the incentive isbased on in-store activity or on-line activity of the particularcustomer.
 17. The computer-readable media according to claim 14, whereinthe incentive is based on an incentive redemption history of theparticular customer.
 18. The computer-readable media according to claim13, wherein the particular customer is provided with one or both ofredeemable award points for the purchased product and an incentive withthe digital receipt based on in-store activity and on-line activity ofthe particular customer.
 19. The computer-readable media according toclaim 13, wherein the incentive is automatically linked to a rewardsprogram account associated with the particular customer and isautomatically redeemable upon the purchasing, by the particularcustomer, of a product associated with the incentive.
 20. Thecomputer-readable media according to claim 12, wherein the particularcustomer is provided with one or both of redeemable award points for thepurchased product and an incentive with the digital receipt based onin-store activity and on-line activity of the particular customer. 21.The computer-readable media according to claim 12, comprising:receiving, from a retailer point-of-sale device, information relating tothe product being purchased by the particular customer; and receiving,from a second computing device, information relating to the productbeing purchased by the particular customer, wherein the second computingdevice is configured to link to the retailer system via the Internet,wherein the shopping recap report is accessible via a smart phoneapplication, and wherein the digital receipt includes an indication ofan incentive that is selected from a repository of incentives for theparticular customer.